Secondary user interface

ABSTRACT

A method for creating and accessing a graphical user interface in the overscan area outside the area of the display normally utilized by the common operating systems. This normal display area is generally known as the “desktop”. The desktop serves as a graphical user interface to the operating system. The desktop displays images representing files, documents and applications available to the user. The desktop is restricted in the common environments to a predetermined set of resolutions (e.g., 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768) as defined by VGA and SVGA standards. Displayable borders outside this area are the overscan area.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/971,503 filed Oct. 21, 2004; which is a Continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/960,850 filed Sep. 21, 2001, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 6,828,991; which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/191,322 filed Nov. 13, 1998, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,010 onDec. 11, 2001; which claims priority to Provisional Application No.60/093,217 filed Jul. 17, 1998.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to computer user interface displays and inparticular, the use of a user interface separate from the standard userinterface display.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There was a time when the most popular operating system for personalcomputers (DOS) did not include a graphical user interface. Any companycould create a “menu” or “shell” which would be the first programlaunched upon starting the computer and which would present options tothe user for launching and managing various applications. Althoughgraphics programming was difficult in the DOS environment, somecompanies even created graphical user interfaces that could then launchother programs.

Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., introduced such a graphicaluser interface for launching applications which it called “Windows”. Thefirst three versions of Windows were merely applications which ran underDOS and could be one of numerous items to be selected from a previouslyrunning shell or menu which might be offered by a company other thanMicrosoft. This continued to allow other companies to offer primary userinterface programs to users without the user going through a Microsoftcontrolled user interface.

However, with the introduction by Microsoft of Windows 95™, the initialloading of the operating system presents a Microsoft-developed graphicaluser interface at the outset, which occupies the entire screen display.As with its previous operating system products, Microsoft arranged withmanufacturers of the standard computer hardware to include thisoperating system with each computer sold. With Microsoft's domination ofthis market, it became impossible for other software vendors to presentan interface to users other than as a Microsoft style icon within theMicrosoft “desktop” consisting of the entire screen display. Thisprompted a need for access to a user interface which could be presentedoutside of the standard computer screen display and thereforeindependent of the dictates of Microsoft for items within its “desktop”.

Standard personal computers use VGA or Super VGA or XGA video displaysystems. These display systems operate in standardized graphics modessuch as 640×480 pixels, 800×600 pixels, 1024×768 pixels, and 1280×1024pixels. When one of these display modes is selected, this is the entirearea available for display. In the Microsoft Windows environment, theuser instructs the Windows operating system to select one of thesestandard display modes and the Windows operating system then presentsall of the applications and their icons within the selected displayarea. There is no way at present to cause the Windows “desktop” to useless than the entire display area and still function as intended andallow another program from another vendor to control the remainder. Whatis needed is the ability to move obstructing video memory out of theway, and to make sure that nothing else that would be obstructing cansubsequently be allocated into that space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a technique provided for adding and using a new userinterface added to the standard user graphical display interface, forexample in the border beyond the standard screen display area.Conventional video systems, such as VGA, SVGA and XGA video systems,include a defined border surrounding the display area. The originalpurpose of this border was to allow adequate time for the horizontal andvertical retrace of the electron gun in a cathode ray tube display.However, with the advent of LCD displays and as retrace speeds haveincreased in modern monitors, it is now possible to present a userinterface display in this border. The border which can be controlled asa user interface is a portion of what is known as the “overscan”. Thisinvention is a method for presenting one or more additional or secondaryuser interfaces, for example, in the overscan area surrounding theconventional user interface display often called the desktop.

When the electron gun in a CRT retraces to the left of the screen or thetop of the screen, it requires a significant amount of time relative tothe presentation of a scanned line of data. During the retrace, theelectron gun is turned off (“blanked”). If the blanking time requiredfor the retrace is equal to the amount of time available, there is nousable overscan. However, modern monitors have become much faster intheir retrace speeds, leaving a significant amount of time when theelectron gun need not be blanked, allowing a displayable border. In theprior art, although the border is usually “black” (the gun is turnedoff), it is well known to specify that the border shall be given any oneof six colors. Standard BIOS allows a specification of this color. Thedesired color is simply specified in one of the registers for the videocontroller. No data for this color is stored in the buffer of videomemory for the display. This invention establishes an additional videobuffer for the border and allows this buffer to be written with displaydata like the regular display buffer. The display area is therebyexpanded, on one or more edges, to provide a visible area previouslyinvisible. The pixels within this newly visible area of the display aremade accessible to programs through an application programming interface(API) component of this invention. A program incorporating a graphicaluser interface may be displayed in the previously blanked area of thedisplay, functionally increasing the accessible area of the displaywithout hardware modification.

The invention is a method for displaying an image on a video displaysystem in an area outside of the primary display area generated by thevideo display system. Two dimensions define the standard display area,each specifying a number of pixels. Selecting a video “mode” specifiesthese dimensions. The method is accomplished by adjusting parameters forthe video display system to increase the number of pixels in at leastone dimension of the display system. The number of pixels which is addedis less than or equal to the difference between the number of pixelsspecified in the video mode and a maximum number of pixels which thevideo display system can effectively display. This difference is theoverscan area. Because all interface displays are created by writing adesired image to a buffer or memory for the video display, the methodrequires allocating additional video display memory for the increasedpixels. The image written to such memory is then displayed by the systemalongside the original display area.

In a first embodiment, only the vertical dimension is increased and theoverscan user interface is presented above or below the primary displayarea. Alternatively, the horizontal dimension may be increased and theoverscan user interface displayed to the right or the left of theprimary display area. Similarly, the interface image may be displayed onany or all of the four sides of the primary display area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a standard display of the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows a standard display with an overscan user in the bottomoverscan area.

FIG. 3 shows a standard display with an overscan user on all fourborders of the display.

FIG. 4 shows the components of the computer system that the videodisplay system.

FIG. 5 shows a cursor or pointer within the overscan user interface andthe hotspot above it within the standard display.

FIG. 6 shows the usable border within the vertical overscan and thehorizontal overscan surrounding the standard display.

FIG. 7 is an overview flow chart showing the operation of a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the sub-steps in Identify Display step 102 ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the sub-steps of changing the displayresolution step 114 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the sub-steps in the Paint the Display step120 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the sub-steps of Enable Linear Addressing step112 of Figure.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the sub-steps of the Process Message Loop ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of the sub-steps of the Check Mouse and KeyboardEvents step 184 in FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the sub-steps of the Change EmulationResolution step 115 in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention includes techniques for providing and using asecondary or additional user interface, preferably a secondary graphicaluser interface or secondary GUI, to be present on the display at leastapparently simultaneously with the primary user interface, such as theconventional desktop.

In a preferred embodiment, programming mechanisms and interfaces in acomputer system provide the secondary GUI in a convenient and currentlyunused potential display area by providing access and visibility to aportion of the monitor display normally ignored and inaccessible(hereinafter “overscan area”). FIG. 1 shows a standard prior art displaydesktop running Microsoft Windows 95™. Within the desktop 31 are thetaskbar 32 and desktop icons 33.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a graphical userinterface image is painted onto one or more of the sides of the overscanarea as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIGS. 2 and 3 show depictions of a SuperVGA (SVGA) display with the addition of a graphical bar user interfacedisplayed in the overscan area. The overscan user interface bar 30 isdefined to reside outside the borders of the “desktop” display area 31.In. FIG. 2, the display is modified to include a graphical userinterface 30 in a bar 20-pixels high below the bottom edge. In FIG. 3,the display is modified to include a graphical user interface in fourbars each 20-pixels high/wide outside each of the four display edges: abottom bar 30, a left side bar 34, a right side bar 36, and a top bar38.

The overscan interface may include, and is not limited to, buttons,menus, application output controls (such as a “ticker window”),animations, and user input controls (such as edit boxes). Because theoverscan interface is not obscured by other applications running withinthe standard desktop, the overscan interface may be constantly visibleor it may toggle between visible and invisible states based upon any ofa number of programming parameters (including, but not limited to, thestate of the active window, the state of a toggle button, etc.).

FIG. 4 shows the primary components of the computer system that relateto the video display system. Within the software component S are theoperating system 63 and the applications 61. Within the protected modesof modern systems, applications 61 do not have direct access to thevideo or Graphics Drivers 64 or hardware components such as the videocard 66 which contains the video chipset 66A, 66B and 66C. Abstractionlayers such as Application Interface (API) 60, and/or Direct API 62,provide limited access, often through the operating system 63.

The invention provides a technique for painting and accessing an area ofthe computer display not normally accessible, or used, in graphicsmodes. In the Microsoft Windows environments (including Microsoft Window95 and derivatives, and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 and derivatives) andother contemporary operating environments, the primary display area“desktop” is assigned by the operating system to be one of a set ofpre-determined video “modes” such as those laid out in Tables 1 and 2below, each of which is predefined at a specific pixel resolution. Thus,the accessible area of the computer display may not be modified exceptby selecting another of the available predefined modes.

TABLE I ROM BIOS video modes Mode Mode Buffer Seg- Number ResolutionColors Type ment 00H 42 × 25 chars (320 × 350 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 00H42 × 25 chars (320 × 350 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 00H 42 × 25 chars (320 ×400 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 00H 42 × 25 chars (320 × 400 pixels) 16 AlphaB800 01H 42 × 25 chars (320 × 200 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 01H 42 × 25chars (320 × 350 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 01H 42 × 25 chars (320 × 400pixels) 16 Alpha B800 01H 42 × 25 chars (320 × 400 pixels) 16 Alpha B80002H 80 × 25 chars (640 × 200 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 02H 80 × 25 chars(640 × 350 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 02H 80 × 25 chars (640 × 400 pixels) 16Alpha B800 02H 80 × 25 chars (640 × 400 pixels) 16 Alpha B800 03H 80 ×25 chars (640 × 200 pixels) 16 Alpha 13800  03H 80 × 25 chars (640 × 350pixels) 16 Alpha B800 03H 80 × 25 chars (640 × 400 pixels) 16 Alpha B80003H 80 × 25 chars (720 × 400 pixels) 16 Alpha 3800 04H 320 × 200 pixels4 Graphics B800 05H 320 × 200 pixels 4 Graphics B800 06H 840 × 200pixels 2 Graphics 3800 07H 80 × 25 chars (720 × 350 pixels) 2 Alpha B00007H 80 × 25 chars (720 × 400 pixels) 2 Alpha B000 ODH 320 × 200 pixels16 Graphics A000 OEH 640 × 200 pixels 16 Graphics A000 OFH 640 × 350pixels 4 Graphics A000 10H 640 × 350 pixels 4 Graphics A000 10H 640 ×350 pixels 16 Graphics A000 113 640 × 480 pixels 2 Graphics A000 12H 640× 480 pixels 16 Graphics A000 133 320 × 200 pixels 256 Graphics A000

TABLE 2 SVGA video modes defined in the VESA BIOS extension Mode NumberResolution Mode Colors Buffer Type 100H 640 × 480 pixels 256 Graphics1013 640 × 480 pixels 256 Graphics 102H 800 × 600 pixels 16 Graphics103H 800 × 600 pixels 256 Graphics 104H 1024 × 768 pixels 16 Graphics105H 1024 × 768 pixels 256 Graphics 106H 1280 × 1024 pixels 16 Graphics107H 1280 × 1024 pixels 256 Graphics 108H 80 × 60 chars 16 Alpha 109H132 × 25 chars 16 Alpha 10AH 132 × 43 chars 16 Alpha 10BH 132 × 50 chars16 Alpha 10CH 132 × 60 chars 16 Alpha 10DH 320 × 200 pixels 32,768Graphics 10EH 320 × 200 pixels 65,536 Graphics 10FH 320 × 200 pixels16,777,216 Graphics 110H 640 × 480 pixels 32,768 Graphics 111H 640 × 480pixels 65,536 Graphics 112H 640 × 480 pixels 16,777,216 Graphics 113H800 × 600 pixels 32,768 Graphics 114H 800 × 600 pixels 65,536 Graphics115H 800 × 600 pixels 16,777,216 Graphics 116H 1024 × 788 pixels 32,768Graphics 117H 1024 × 768 pixels 65,536 Graphics 118H 1024 × 768 pixels16,777,216 Graphics 119H 1280 × 1024 pixels 32,768 Graphics 11AH 1280 ×1024 pixels 65,536 Graphics 11BH 1280 × 1024 pixels 16,777,216 Graphics

As shown in FIG. 6, a displayed image is “overscanned”. That is, thedisplayed video buffer data occupies less than the entire drivablescreen size. The width of the usable overscan border depends on theamount of the horizontal overscan 52 reduced by the horizontal blanking54 and the amount of the vertical overscan 53 reduced by the verticalblanking 55.

In a first preferred embodiment, only a border at the bottom of thestandard display area is used. Consequently, only the vertical controlparameters for the to cathode ray tube (CRT) controller, shown asControl Registers 6H, 16H, 11H, 10H, 12H and 15H in FIG. 4 need to beadjusted. These parameters and others are shown in Table 3 below:

TABLE 3 Vertical timing parameters for CR programming. Register NameDescription  6H Vertical Total Value = (total number of scan lines perframe) − 2 The high-order bits of this value are stored in the overflowregisters.  7H Overflow High-order bits from other CR registers. 10HVertical Retrace Start Scan line at which vertical retrace starts. Thehigh-order bits of this value are stored in the overflow registers. 11HVertical Retrace End Only the low-order 4 bits of the actual VerticalRetrace End value are stored. (Bit 7 is set to 1 to write-protectregisters 0 through 7.) 12H Vertical Display End Scan line at whichdisplay on the screen ends. The high-order bits of this value are storedin the overflow registers. 15H Start Vertical Blank Scan line at whichvertical blanking starts. The high-order bits of this value are storedin the overflow registers. 16H End Vertical Blank Scan line at whichvertical blanking ends. The high order bits of this value are stored inthe overflow registers. 59H-5AH Linear Address Window Linear addresswindow position in 32-bit CPU address Position space.

In the standard 640×480 graphics mode, the nominal horizontal scan rateis 31.5 KHz (31,500 times per second) with a vertical scan rate of 60 Hz(60 frames per second). So the number of lines in one frame is31,500/60, or 525. Because only 480 lines of data need to be displayed,there are 525-480, or 45, lines available for vertical overscan. Leavinga more than adequate margin for retrace, which requires only 2 linesworth of time, the preferred embodiment uses 20 lines for the inventedoverscan display.

The disclosed method of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention is accomplished by achieving three requirements:

-   -   (1) to address and modify the visible resolution of the video        display system such that portions of the overscan area are        visible as shown in FIG. 6;    -   (2) to address and modify the video display contents for the        visible portion of the overscan area, and    -   (3) to provide an application programming interface (API) or        other mechanism to allow applications to implement this        functionality.

FIG. 7, and the additional details and sub-steps provided in FIGS. 8-13,provides a flow chart of an implementation of a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention meeting the requirements described above. Theenvironment of this implementation is a standard Microsoft Windows 95™operating environment, using Microsoft Visual C and Microsoft MASM forthe development platform. That is not to imply that this invention islimited in scope to that environment or platform. The invention could beimplemented within any graphical interface environment, such asX-Windows, OSF Motif, Apple OS, a Java OS, and others in which similarvideo standards (VGA, SVGA, XGA, 8514/A) are practiced. The referencebooks PC Video Systems by is Richard Wilton, published by MicrosoftPress and Programmer's Guide to the EGA, VGA, and Super VGA Cards byRichard F. Ferrano, published by Addison Wesley provide more thanadequate background information to implement this embodiment.

Referring now in particular to FIG. 7, upon initialization, at IdentifyDisplay Type step 102, the program attempts to determine the displaytype, and current location in memory used by the display driver, inorder to determine the size and locations of any display modificationsto be made, e.g., to the size and location of overscan area(s) to beused.

As described in further detail in FIG. 8, the program first queries thehardware registry in Query Hardware Registry, step 131, to attempt todetermine the registered display type. If successful, the program thendetermines compatibility information in Display Type Supported, step135, to verify that the program supports that display type and determinememory allocation information.

If the hardware registry information is unavailable, as determined instep 131, or the display type determined in step 131 is unsupported asdetermined by step 104, the program may use an alternate approach, shownas subroutine Query hardware, steps 135 in FIG. 8, to query the BIOS, instep 134, and the video chipset 66, in step 136, for similar informationas described immediately below.

If the BIOS is to be accessed in step 134, physical memory is firstallocated in Allocate Physical Memory, step 132, and accessed usingMicrosoft's DPMI (DOS Protected Mode Interface) to map it to the linearmemory address in which the BIOS resides in Use DPMI to assign BIOSlinear address to physical memory, step 133.

Thereafter, the program queries the BIOS in Read BIOS block, Search forVGA/XVA type and manufacturer ID, step 134. If successful, the driverand chipset are then further queried to determine the display type andmemory location in Query driver/chipset for exact chipset, step 136.

If the compatibility information does not indicate a standard VGA, SVGA,XGA, or 8514/A signature, step 134, this routine returns a failure. If aknown chipset manufacturer's identification is found, the driver and/orchipset may be queried with manufacturer-specific routines, step 136, toidentify and initialize, as necessary, the specific chipset.

If, at step 104, the program was unable to finally unable to identifythe display type, either because the registry query in step 131 or thehardware query in step 135 was unsuccessful, the user may be prompted atRun in windowed mode, step 116, as to whether the program shouldcontinue to run as a standard “application bar” or “toolbar”. Theprogram may either exit or proceed to run as a toolbar on the desktop.

Returning now to FIG. 8, if a supported display type is detected, theprogram then determines the screen borders to be accessed in Identifyborders to display in overscan, step 106, based upon user preferences,and determines, as necessary, whether sufficient video memory exists tomake the necessary display changes. For example, if the screen iscurrently set to a 1024×768 resolution at 16 bits-per-pixel, and theprogram is to include four graphical interface bars, one on each edge,with each bar 20 pixels deep, the program must check that video memoryis greater than 1.7 MB (required number of bytes=PixelsWidth*BitsPerPixel*PixelsHeight).

The controller registers 6H, 16H, 11H, 10H, 12H and 15H as shown in FIG.4 and detailed in Table 3, may be accessed through standard input/outputports, using standard input/output functions. The CR registers 6H, 16H,11H, 10H, 12H and 15H must first be unlocked, as indicated in UnlockCRTC registers, step 108 in FIG. 7, to make them writeable. They areunlocked by clearing bit 7 in controller register 11H.

Addressing of video memory, step 112, is accomplished through one ofseveral means. One is to use the standard VGA 64 Kb “hardware window”,moving it along the video memory buffer 67 (FIG. 4) in 64 Kb incrementsas necessary. The preferred method is to enable linear addressing byquerying the video chipset for the linear window position address, step138 of FIG. 11. This 32-bit offset in memory allows the program to mapthe linear memory to a physical address, steps 140 and 142 of FIG. 11that can be manipulated programmatically.

At this point the program can modify the display, step 114 and FIG. 9,to increment the border areas. This routine first checks to determinewhether or not the system is running in “toolbar” mode, step 144, and,if so, returns true. If not, it then determines whether to reset allregisters and values to their original state, effectively returning thedisplay to its original appearance, step 152. The determination is basedupon a number of parameters, such as whether the current resolution,step 146, reflects is a standard value or previous programmaticmanipulation, step 148. If a standard resolution is already set, thevariables are reset to include the specified border areas, step 150. TheCR registers are incremented, step 154, to modify the scanned andblanked areas of the display. If the top or side areas are modified,existing video memory is moved accordingly in step 162 of FIG. 10.

If any of the foregoing routines returns a failure, the program mayprompt the user to determine whether “emulation” mode, step 13, orwindowed mode step 116 should be used or if the program should exit atstep 124.

In its simplest form, the invention can be treated as a technique foradding a secondary GUI by reconfiguring the actual display mode to add amodified, non-standard GUI mode in which the standard display size orresolution has been increased to include a secondary display in additionto the primary display. For example, a standard 640×480 display ismodified in accordance with the present invention to become a largerdisplay, one section of which corresponds to the original 640×480display while another section corresponds to a 640×25 secondary GUIdisplay.

There are various techniques or mechanisms required for modifying thesystem to include the secondary GUI, depending upon the requirements ofthe secondary GUI and upon the present circumstances of the unmodifiedsystem.

In another embodiment of the present invention system resources areallocated for a secondary GUI by fooling the video driver into going tolarger resolution. This technique automatically guarantees that enoughspace is kept clean, since the video driver allocates system resourcesaccording to the resolution that the video driver believes it will beoperating in. To operate one or more secondary user interfaces in one ormore areas of the screen it is necessary to have the memory that wasassociated in video memory or in the frame buffer with that location,contiguously below the primary surface free and available. By writing aseries of small applets specific to hardware known to have systemresource allocation problems for a secondary user interface, thesecondary user interface application may run such applet wheneverresolutions will be switched and initializing the chip set pertinent tothat particular applet. If the application finds an applet pertinent tothe current particular chip set it will be launched. The applet orminidriver initializes itself, performs the necessary changes to thedriver's video resolution tables, forces a re-enable, and sufficientspace is subsequently available for one or more secondary userinterfaces.

When re-enabled, the driver allocates video memory as needed for theprimary display according to the data on the UCCO resolution tables.Therefore, the modified values result in a larger allocation. Once thedriver has allocated memory necessary for the primary surface, thedriver will allow no outside access to the allocated memory. Thus byfooling the driver into believing that it needs to allocate sufficientmemory for a resolution exactly x bytes larger than the currentresolution where x is the size of one or more secondary user interfaces,the application can be sure that no internal or external use of theallocated memory location can conflict with the secondary userinterface.

This method ensures that system resources will be allocated for one ormore secondary user interfaces by writing an applet that would addressthe video driver in such a way as to force the video driver, on its nextre-enable, to allocate video memory sufficient for a resolution higherthan the actual operating system resolution. This may also be done bymodifying each instance of the advertised mode tables, and thus creatinga screen size larger than the primary user interface screen size.

This technique has an additional benefit of eliminating the need toprevent the driver from actually shifting into the specified largerresolution, handing the primary user interface a larger display surfaceresolution. The “hardware mode table,” a variant of the aforementionedvideo resolution tables, is not advertised and not accessible.Therefore, when the driver validates the new resolution, checkingagainst the hardware mode table, it will always fail and thereforerefuse to shift into that resolution. Because this technique modifiedthe advertised video resolution tables early enough in the driver'sprocess, allocated memory was modified; and memory addresses set beforethe failure in validate mode. Subsequently when the CRTCs are modified,in step 114, the driver is reserving sufficient memory for one or moresecondary user interfaces and not making it unavailable for any otherprocess or purpose.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, an enveloping driveris installed to sit above the existing driver and shims itself inbetween the hardware abstraction layer and the actual video driver inorder to be able to handle all calls to the video driver and modify thedriver and the driver's tables in a much more generic fashion ratherthan in a chipset specific fashion. The enveloping driver, shims intothe primary video driver, transparently passing calls back and forth tothe primary video driver. The enveloping driver finds the videoresolution tables in the primary video driver which may be in a numberof locations within the driver. The enveloping driver modifies thetables (for example, increasing 800 by 600 to 800 by 620). A 1024 by 768table entry may become 1024 by 800.

Like the previously described embodiment, the primary driver cannotvalidate the new resolution and therefore cannot—actually change thedisplay setting. As a result, the driver allocated memory, allocated thecache space, determined memory address and moved cache and off-screenbuffers as necessary. So the primary driver never uses all the spaceallocated, and will never draw in that space.

As stated earlier, the method of the present invention includes threeprimary steps, finding the overscan area, increasing or expanding theoverscan area, and putting data in the expanded overscan area.

The step of finding the overscan area requires a review of the contentsof the Controller Registers, the CR registers, used by VGA compatiblechip sets or graphic boards to identify where the overscan area, theblanking, the vertical and horizontal total and the sinking should beset. The CR defines the desktop display, how it is synched, where it islaid out left and right, how much buffer area there would be on eachside, where it would be stored within the video memory area. A review ofthe contents of the CR data registers therefore fully defines thelocation and size of the overscan area.

In order to accomplish the step of expanding the overscan area, the CRsmay currently be used directly for systems with video displayresolutions up to and including 1024 pixels in any dimension, that is,resolutions which can be defined in the generally accepted VGA standardsby 10 bits per register. To expand the overscan area, new data iswritten into the CR using standard techniques such as the Inp and Outpfunctions. A standard video port and MMIO functions may also be used tomodify the CRs.

At greater resolutions, 11 bits may be needed to properly define theresolution. There is currently no standard way in which the II^(th) bitlocation is defined. Therefore, at a resolution above 1280 by 1024, forexample, an understanding about the video card itself, particularly howthe 11 bits representing the resolution are stored, is currentlyrequired and will be described below in greater detail.

When expanding the overscan, it is important to make sure a previousoverscan bar is not already displayed, possibly from a previous crash orother unexpected problem. Either the display must be immediately resetto the appropriate resolution defaults, or the CR queried to determineif the total screen resolution as understood by the video card anddrivers, differs from the screen resolution known by the operatingsystem display interface. An overscan bar may already be displayed ifthe total screen resolution is not equal to one of the standard VGA orSVGA resolutions. In particular, if the total screen resolution is equalto a standard VGA/SVGA resolution plus the area required for theoverscan bar or is greater than the resolution reported by the operatingsystem display interface, the display is reset.

Once the display area or resolution as stored in the CR is determined,the resolution or display area can be extended in several differentways. The overscan area can be added to the bottom, the top, or theright of the current display area, and optionally, the display area canbe repositioned so that the overscan bar can remain centered inappearance. Alternatively, the overscan area can be added anywhere andthe original or desktop display area can be centered to improveappearance. In any event, the height/width of the display area requiredfor the overscan bar is added to the size of the display area alreadystored in the CR and the sum is written into the CR, overwriting theprevious data.

The screen typically shows a quick flash as it is placed in a differentmode, including the original display area plus a new display bar in theoverscan area. As soon as that change occurs, a black mask can bepositioned over the new areas. The new menu data can then be safelywritten on top of the black mask so that the user never sees memory“garbage”.

There is typically a few seconds of load time during which a simplemessage can be displayed, such as “Loading . . . ”, to avoid confusingthe user.

There are a number of mechanisms by which this may be done. A set ofclass objects is used, all derived from a common base classcorresponding to the above described VGA-generic technique.

The first mechanism is an implementation of the VGA-generic technique.Using this mechanism, no information specific to a video-card isnecessary, other that insuring VGA support. Using standard applicationprogramming interface (API) routines, primary and secondary surfaces areallocated. The new display data in the CR is simply the physical addressat the start of the primary surface plus the number of pixels defined bythe screen size.

Allocation of the primary surface will always be based on the entirescreen display. Given the linear address of the allocated primarysurface, from which a physical address can be derived, it can beextrapolated that the physical address of the location in video memoryimmediately adjacent to the primary surface is represented by the sum ofthe number of bytes of memory used to maintain the primary surface inmemory plus the value of the physical address of the primary surface.

Once the physical address of the primary surface is known, the size ofthe primary surface as represented in video memory can be determined.For example, the system looks in the CRs for the resolution of thescreen, 800 by 600, in terms of number of bits per pixel, or bytes perpixel. Then any data stored in the CR representing any horizontalsynching space is added. This is the true scan line length. The scanline length is a more accurate measurement of the width in a givenresolution.

Next, the physical address of the allocated secondary surface is derivedfrom its linear address. In the case where the allocated secondarysurface is, in fact, allocated in the memory space contiguous to theprimary surface (the value of the secondary surface physical address isequal to the value of the primary surface physical address plus the sizeof the primary), the secondary surface is determined to be the locationin memory for the overscan display.

If, however, the above is not true and the secondary surface is notcontiguous to the primary surface, another approach mechanism isrequired.

To summarize, the first mechanism determines what the physical area forthe desktop is going to be and then adds a secondary space below that todisplay in the overscan area. The newly allocated area will be the veryfirst block of memory available. If this block immediately follows theprimary surface, the physical address will correspond to the valueassociated with the physical address of the primary surface, plus thesize of the primary surface. If that is true, the memory blocks' arecontiguous, this VGA-generic mechanism can be used.

If this first VGA-generic mechanism cannot be used, the video card anddriver name and version information retrieved from the hardware registryand BIOS, as described earlier, is used in conjunction with a look-uptable to determine the best alternatives among the remaining mechanisms.The table includes a set of standards keyed to the list of driver namesfound in the hardware registry. A class object specific to the videochipset is instantiated based, directly or indirectly, on theVGA-generic object.

If the hardware look up does not result in a reliable match, areliability, or confidence, fudge factor may be used. For example, ifthe hardware look up determines that an XYZ brand device of some kind isbeing used, but the particular XYZ device named is not found in the lookup table, a generic model from that chipset manufacturer many often beusable. If no information is available, the user may get a messageindicating that the hardware is not supported and that the programcannot run in the overscan area. The user may then be queried todetermine if the system should be operated in the “application-toolbar”mode which basically runs with exactly the same functionality but in awindowed environment within the desktop rather than in the overscan areaoutside the desktop.

The next alternative mechanism uses surface overlays. The first step tothis approach is to determine if the system will support surfaceoverlays. A call is made to the video driver to determine what featuresare supported and what other factors are required. If surface overlaysare supported, for example, there may be a scaling factor required.

For example, a particular video card in a given machine, using 2megabytes of video RAM, might support unscaled surface overlays at1024×768 at 8 bits per pixel, but not at 1024×768 at 16 bits per pixelbecause the bandwidth of the video card or the speed of the card,coupled with the relatively small amount of video memory would not besufficient to draw a full width overlay. It is often horizontal scalingthat is at issue; preventing the driver from drawing a full widthoverlay. An overlay is literally an image that is drawn on top of theprimary surface. It is not a secondary surface, which is describedabove. Literally, the system sends its signal from the video driver tothe hardware such that it merges the two signals together, overlaying asecond signal on top of the first.

If a system can not support unsealed overlays, perhaps because ofbandwidth issues or memory issues, this mechanism is not desirable. Itis not rejected, but becomes a lower priority alternative. For example,if the scaling factor is below 0.1, then the normal bar can be drawn andit will be clipped closer to the edge. If the scaling factor is morethan 10%, another approach mechanism is required.

In the next set of alternative mechanisms, a secondary surface isallocated sufficient in size to encompass the normal desktop displayarea plus the overscan area to be used for display of the overscan baror bars. Using these mechanisms, the allocated secondary surface doesnot have to be located contiguous in memory to the primary surface.However, these approaches use more video memory than the others.

The first step is to allocate a secondary surface sufficient in size tocontain the video display (the primary surface) plus the overscan areato be used. If the allocation fails, that means that there is not enoughvideo memory to accomplish the task and this set of mechanisms isskipped and the next alternative tried. After the new block of memory isallocated, a timer of very small granularity is used to execute a simplememory copy of in the contents of the primary surface onto theappropriate location of this secondary surface. The timer executes thecopy at approximately 85 times per second.

Within this set of alternative mechanisms is a variant that uses thesystem page tables. This mechanism queries the system page tables todetermine the current GDI surface address, that is, the physical addressin the page table for the primary surface. A secondary surface is thencreated large enough to hold all of what is in the video memory plus thememory required for the overscan bar to be displayed. This surfaceaddress is then pushed into the system page table and asserted as theGDI surface address.

Thereafter, when GDI reads from or writes to the primary surface throughthe driver, it actually reads from or writes the new, larger surface.The overscan bar program can, subsequently, modify the area of thesurface not addressed by GDI. The original primary surface can bede-allocated and the memory usage reclaimed. This mechanism; being morememory-efficient than the previously described mechanism, is thepreferred alternative. But the page tables solution will not workcorrectly on a chipset that includes a coprocessor device. If theinitial device query reveals that the device does include a coprocessor,this variant mechanism will not be attempted.

Other variations of the above-described mechanisms are accounted for inderived class objects. For example, the VGA-generic mechanisms may varywhen the video card requires more than ten bits to represent the videoresolution in the CR. Some instances may require 11 bits. Such registerstypically do not use contiguous bytes, but use extension bits todesignate the address information for the higher order bits.

In this example, the eleventh bit is usually specified in an extended CRregister and the extended CR registers are usually chip specific.Similarly, a variation of the surface overlay mechanism includes ascaling factor, as described above. This alternative is handled inspecific implementations through derived class objects and may be thebest solution in certain situations.

Another implementation of this technology uses a “hooking” mechanism asshown in FIG. 14. After the display driver is identified through thehardware registry or the BIOS, as described above, certain programminginterface entry points into the driver are hooked such as at step 117.In other words, when the video system device interface, Windows GDI forexample, calls those entry points into the display driver, the programcan take the opportunity to modify the parameters being passed to thedisplay driver, and/or to modify the values being returned from thedisplay driver. By hooking the “Re-enable” function in the displaydriver, at step 117, the overscan bar program can allocate screen areain different ways in step 119:

-   -   (1) In step-up mode, step 121, by intercepting a resolution        change request and identifying the next-higher supported screen        resolution and passing that higher resolution to the display        driver, then, when the display driver acknowledges the change,        intercepting the returned value, which would reflect the new        resolution, and actually returning the original requested        resolution instead. For example, GDI requests a change from        640×480 resolution to 800×600 resolution; the overscan program        intercepts the request and modifies it to change the display        driver to the next supported resolution higher than 800×600, say        1024×768. The display driver will change the screen resolution        to 1024×768 and return that new resolution. The overscan program        intercepts the return and instead passes the original request,        800×600, to GDI. The display driver has allocated and displays a        1024×768 area of memory. GDI and Windows will display the        desktop in an 800×600 area of that display, leaving areas on the        right and bottom edges of the screen available to the overscan        program.    -   (2) In shared mode, step 123, by intercepting only the return        from the display driver and modifying the value to change the        operating systems understanding of the actual screen resolution.        For example, GDI requests a change from 800×600 resolution to        1024×768 resolution. The overscan program intercepts the        returned acknowledgment, subtracting 32 before passing the        return on to GDI. The display driver has allocated and displays        a 1024×768 area of memory. GDI and Windows will display the        desktop in an 1024×736 area of that display, leaving an area on        the bottom edge of the screen available to the overscan bar        program.        After hooking, the overscan bar program can display by:

(1) using standard API calls to render the bar to an off-screen buffer,as described in the next section, and then hooking the “BitBlt” functionentry point into the display driver in order to modify the offset andsize parameters and subsequently redirect the BitBlt to the area outsideof that which the API believes is onscreen; and

(2) using mechanisms of primary and secondary surface addresses,described earlier, the program determines the linear addresses for theoff-desktop memory location(s) left available to it, and can renderdirectly to those memory locations.

Phase 2 of the invention begins by painting the new images into astandard off-screen buffer, step 118, as is commonly used in the art,and making the contents visible, step 120, as described in FIG. 10. Ifthe program is in “toolbar” mode, step 156, the off-screen buffer ispainted into the standard window client space, step 166, and madevisible, step 164, using generic windowing-system routines. Otherwise,the linear window-position address is mapped, step 158, as described inFIG. 11 which has been previously explained. Once the linear memory ismapped to a physical memory address, step 142, the contents of theoff-screen display buffer can be copied into the video buffer directly,step 154 of FIG. 10, or painted as to a secondary surface.

The preferred embodiment application includes a standard applicationmessage loop, step 122, which processes system and user events. Anexample of a minimum functionality process loop is in FIG. 12. Here theapplication handles a minimal set of system events, such as paintingrequests, step 170, system resolution changes, step 172, andactivation/deactivation, step 174. Here too is where user events, suchas key or mouse events, may be handled, step 184, detailed in FIG. 13.System paint messages are handled by painting as appropriate into theoff-screen buffer, step 178, and painting the window or display buffer,step 180, as appropriate, as described earlier in FIG. 10. Systemresolution messages are received whenever the system or user changes thescreen or color resolution. The programs reset all registers to thecorrect new values, then change the display resolution, step 182, asearlier described in FIG. 9, to reflect the new resolution modified.User messages are ignored when the program is not the activeapplication.

FIG. 13 describes a method of implementing user-input events. In thisembodiment, there are three alternative mechanisms used to implementcursor or mouse support so that the user has a pointing device inputtool within the overscan area user interface. In the preferredmechanism, GDI's “cliprect” is modified to encompass the overscan bar'sdisplay area. That keeps the operating system from clipping the cursoras it moves into the overscan area. This change doesn't necessarily makethe cursor visible or provide event feedback to the application, but isthe first step.

Some current Windows applications continually reset the cliprect. It isa standard programming procedure to reset the cliprect after use or lossof input focus. Some applications use the cliprect to constrain themouse to a specific area as may be required by the active application.Whenever the overscan display bar interface receives the input focus itreasserts the cliprect, making it large enough for the mouse to travelis down into the overscan space.

Once the cliprect has been expanded, the mouse can generate messages tothe operating system reflecting motion within the expansion area. GDIdoes not draw the cursor outside what it understands to be itsresolution, however, and does not pass “out-of-bounds” event messages onto an application. The overscan program use a VxD device driver, andrelated callback function, to make hardware driver calls at ring zero tomonitor the actual physical deltas, or changes, in the mouse positionand state. Every mouse position or state change is returned as an eventto the program which can graphically represent the position within themenu display bar.

An alternative mechanism avoids the need to expand the cliprect in orderto avoid conflict with a class of device drivers that use the cliprectto facilitate virtual display panning. Querying the mouse input devicedirectly the overscan program can determine “delta's”, changes inposition and state. Whenever the cursor touches the very last row orcolumn of pixels on the standard display, it is constrained there bysetting the cliprect to a rectangle comprised of only that last row orcolumn. A “virtual” cursor position is derived from the deltas availablefrom the input device. The actual cursor is hidden and a virtual cursorrepresentation is explicitly displayed at the virtual coordinates toprovide accurate feedback to the user. If the virtual coordinates moveback onto the desktop from the overscan area, the cliprect is cleared,the virtual representation removed, and the actual cursor restored ontothe screen.

A third alternative mechanism creates a transparent window that overlapsthe actual Windows desktop display area by a predefined number ofpixels, for example, two or four pixels. If the mouse enters that small,transparent area, the program hides the cursor. A cursor image is thendisplayed within the overscan bar area, at the same X-coordinate but ata Y-coordinate correspondingly offset into the overscan area. If atwo-pixel overlap area is used, this method uses a granularity of two.Accordingly, this API-only approach provides only limited verticalgranularity. This alternative mechanism assures that all implementationswill have some degree of mouse-input support, even when cliprect andinput device driver solutions fail.

FIG. 7 describes the cleanup mechanisms executed when the program isclosed, step 124. The display is reset to the original resolution, step126, and the CR registers are reset to their original values, step 128,and locked, step 130.

ALTERNATIVE EMBODIMENTS

1. Utilizing the VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) in place of the CRTController registers (FIG. 5) to determine the linear window positionaddress, step 138, as necessary;

2. Utilizing API's (application programming interfaces) 62 capable ofdirect driver and/or hardware manipulation, such as Microsoft's DirectXand/or DirectDraw, in place of the CRT Controller registers and/ordirect access to the display buffer;

3. Utilizing API's (applications programming interfaces) 62, such asMicrosoft's DirectX and/or DirectDraw, capable of direct driver and/orhardware manipulation, to create a second virtual display surface on theprimary display with the same purpose, to display a separate andunobscured graphical user interface;

4. Utilizing modifications in the video subsystem of the operatingsystem 63 in place of the CRT Controller registers and/or DirectX accessto the display buffer;

5. Utilizing modifications in the video subsystem of the operatingsystem 63 to create a second virtual display surface on the primarydisplay with the same purpose, to display a separate and unobscuredgraphical user interface;

6. Building this functionality into the actual video drivers 64 and/ormini-drivers. Microsoft Windows provides support for virtual devicedrivers, VxDs, which could also directly interface with the hardware anddrivers. These could also include an API to provide applications with aninterface to the modified display;

7. Incorporating the same functionality, with or without the VGAregisters, into the BIOS and providing an API to allow applications aninterface to the modified display; and

8. Incorporating the same functionality into hardware devices, such asmonitor itself, with hardware and/or software interfaces to the CPU.

In overview, the visual display area is conventionally defined by thevalues maintained in the CRTC registers on the chip and available to thedriver. The normally displayed area is defined by VGA standards, andsubsequently by SVGA standards, to be a preset number of modes, eachmode including a particular display resolution which specifies the areaof the display in which the desktop can be displayed. The desktop canonly be displayed in this area because Windows does not directlyread/write the video memory, rather it uses programming interface callsto the video driver. And the video driver simply reads/writes using anaddress that happens to be in video memory. So the value this mechanismneeds to realize is what the video card and driver assert are availablefor painting. This value is queried from the registers, modified byspecific amounts and rewritten to the card. Subsequently, the presentinvention changes the area of writable visible display space withoutinforming the operating system's display interface of the change.

This invention does not necessitate change the CRTCs to add just to thebottom. Preferably the top is also moved up a little. This keeps thedisplay centered within the overscan area. For example, rather than justadd thirty-two scan lines to the bottom, the top of the display area ismoved up by sixteen lines.

Nor does this invention depend solely upon the ability to change theCRTCs to modify the visible display area. Alternative mechanisms defineother methods of creating and accessing visible areas of the screen thatare outside the dimensions of the desktop accessed by the operatingsystem's display interface.

From a consideration of the specifications, drawings, and claims, otherembodiments and variations of the invention will be apparent to oneskilled in the art of computer science.

In particular, the secondary GUI may be positioned in areas not normallyconsidered the conventional overscan area. For example, the secondaryGUI may be positioned in a small square exactly in the center of thenormal display in order to provide a service required by the particularsystem and application. In fact, the techniques of reading and rewritingscreen display information can be used within the scope of the inventionto maintain the primary GUI information, or portions of it, in anadditional memory and selectively on a timed or other basis, replace aportion of the primary GUI with the secondary GUI.

As a simple example, a security system may require the ability todisplay information to a user without regard to the status of thecomputer system and/or require the user to make a selection, such ascall for help by clicking on “911?”. The present invention could providea video display buffer in which a portion of the primary GUI interfacewas continuously recorded and displayed in a secondary GUI for examplein the center of the screen. Under non-emergency conditions, thesecondary GUI would then be effectively invisible in that the User wouldnot notice anything except the primary GUI.

Under the appropriate emergency conditions, an alarm monitor could causethe secondary GUI to present the “911?” to the user by overwriting thecopy of the primary display stored in the secondary GUI memory.Alternatively, a database of photographs may be stored and one recalledin response to an incoming phone call in which caller ID identified aphone number associated with a database photo entry.

In general, the present invention may provide one or more secondary userinterfaces which may be useful whenever it is more convenient ordesirable to control a portion of the total display, either outside theprimary display in an unused area such as overscan or even in a portionof the primary GUI directly or by time division multiplexing, directlyby communication with the video memory or by bypassing at least aportion of the video memory to Create a new video memory. In otherwords, the present invention may provide one or more secondary userinterfaces outside of the control of the system, such as the operatingsystem, which controls the primary GUI.

Additional user interfaces may be used for a variety of differentpurposes. For example, a secondary user interface may be used to providesimultaneous access to the Internet, full motion video, and a conferencechannel. A secondary user interface may be dedicated to a local networkor multiple secondary user interfaces may provide simultaneous accessand data for one or more networks to which a particular computer may beconnected.

Having now described the invention in accordance with the requirementsof the patent statutes, those skilled in this art will understand how tomake changes and modifications in the present invention to meet theirspecific requirements or conditions. Such changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention asset forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for controlling the display of an imageon a video display system having a two dimensional display with eachdimension having a maximum number of displayable pixels using a computerrunning an operating system in which a user interface is displayedwithin a display area on the video display using less than the maximumnumber of displayable pixels, comprising: adjusting parameters of thevideo display system to display the maximum displayable area as asecondary display area in one of the two dimensions; within theoperating system, addressing a video display memory for the pixels ofthe secondary display area; sending display data other than the userinterface to the video display memory for the pixels of the secondarydisplay area; and displaying data on the secondary display area.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising adjusting parameters of the videodisplay system to display the maximum displayable area as a secondarydisplay area in a second of the two dimensions.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein adjusting parameters of the video display system comprisesincreasing the number of pixels is in the one of the two dimensions. 4.The method of claim 3 wherein the dimension of the video display systemin which the number of pixels is increased is vertical and the secondarydisplay area is above or below the display area.
 5. The method of claim3 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the numberof pixels increased is horizontal and the secondary display area is tothe left or right of the display area.
 6. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising increasing the number of pixels is in a second of the twodimensions to display the maximum displayable area as a secondarydisplay area in the second of the two dimensions.
 7. The method of claim6 wherein the dimension of the video display system in which the numberof pixels increased is both horizontal and vertical and the secondarydisplay area is to the left or right of the display area and to the topor bottom of the display area.
 8. A device for displaying an image on avideo display system in an area outside of a display area generated witha video mode having two dimensions, each dimension having a number ofpixels, in a computer system running an operating system which presentsa user interface fully occupying the display area, comprising: means forcreating a secondary display space by adjusting the display parametersof the video display system to increase the number of pixels in a firstdimension of the video display system by a number of pixels no greaterthan the difference between the number of pixels for the first dimensionspecified in the video mode and a maximum number of pixels which thevideo display system can display in the first dimension; within thecomputer system, means for addressing video display memory for theincreased pixels; and means for sending display data other than the userinterface to the video display memory for the increased pixels.
 9. Thedevice of claim 8, further comprising adjusting parameters of the videodisplay system to increase the number of pixels in a second dimension ofthe video display system by a number of pixels no greater than thedifference between the number of pixels for the second dimensionspecified in the video mode and a maximum number of pixels which thevideo display system can display in the second dimension.
 10. Anon-transitory computer program storage device containing a computerprogram which, if executed on a computer, causes the computer to displayan image on a video display system in an area outside of a display areagenerated with a video mode having two dimensions, each dimension havinga number of pixels, in a computer system running an operating systemwhich presents a user interface fully occupying the display area by:adjusting parameters for the video display system to increase the numberof pixels in a first dimension of the video display system by a numberof pixels no greater than the difference between the number of pixelsspecified in the video mode for the first dimension and a maximum numberof pixels which the video display system can the display in the firstdimension; addressing video display memory for the increased pixels inthe first dimension; and sending display data other than the userinterface to the video display memory for the increased pixels tothereby display data in the area of the display device displaying theincreased pixels alongside the display area.